The ministry said that 40 years ago, on August 1, 1975, the leaders of 35 countries in Europe and North America signed the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in Helsinki, Finland. Despite ideological differences, the states participating in the conference agreed on ten fundamental principles of cooperation to ensure peace and security in Europe. In furtherance of these commitments the leaders of the member states agreed at the OSCE summit in Astana in 2010 to work towards building a common Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community.
"Unfortunately, Russian aggression against Ukraine thwarted these ambitious plans and marred the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act. Having illegally occupied and annexed Crimea with the city of Sevastopol, having invaded Donbas and kidnapped Ukrainian citizens, Russia has violated most of the principles and obligations that lay the OSCE's grounds. Among them are sovereign equality, respect for the rights inherent in sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of frontiers, refraining from the threat or use of force, as well as fulfilment in good faith of obligations under international law," the statement said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry says that it is obvious to Ukraine and the vast majority of the states participating in the OSCE that all the achievements within the framework of the CSCE/OSCE in 40 years of its existence are under threat without Russia's restoring respect for the principles adopted in Helsinki and correcting the gross violations it has committed. Security and stability in the whole region is under threat, the ministry stressed.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has once again called on the Russian Federation to immediately stop its aggression against Ukraine, return to the path of implementation of the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and international law in order to avoid unpredictable consequences for the entire system of European security.
UNIAN's memo. Russia in March 2014 annexed the Ukrainian Crimea and began to destabilize the situation in Donbas. Russia supplies weapons and its regular troops to support terrorists from the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic.
In the middle of April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched an anti-terrorist operation in the region, which is under way at the moment.
UN experts estimate that from the middle of April 2014 to July 27, 2015, at least 6,832 people (both military and civilians) were killed and at least 17,087 were wounded in the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine.
